Carmella made a mistake with post-WWE podcast appearance, former wrestler says

Carmella recently found out her WWE contract will not be renewed after 12 years with the company. Stevie Richards listened to the former SmackDown Women's Champion's reaction to her exit and thinks her first post-WWE interview came at a bad time.

During an appearance on Kail Lowry's Barely Famous, Carmella claimed WWE "completely ghosted" her after holding talks about returning to television in 2024. She also implied that the company no longer wanted her because she had a baby.

Richards, a WWE star between 1999 and 2008, said on The Stevie Richards Show that Carmella should have waited before speaking publicly about her departure:

"I'm really, really against [wrestlers giving interviews after leaving] because you're not in the right mindset, you're not in the right emotional mindset, to go out and start doing interviews after a release or your contract runs out or you quit or whatever because you're gonna say something that you may regret. In other words, the allegations of she got fired or didn't get her contract renewed because she had a baby." [1:01:23 – 1:01:47]

The Princess of Staten Island achieved several impressive feats in WWE, including winning the first Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match in 2017. A year later, she cashed in her contract on Charlotte Flair to capture the SmackDown Women's Championship.

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Stevie Richards on Carmella's relationship with Corey Graves

Carmella has been married to NXT commentator Corey Graves since April 7, 2022. She gave birth to their first child together on November 8, 2023.

Stevie Richards understands the wrestling business can be difficult for family members. However, he thinks a comment Carmella made about Graves still working for WWE did not make sense.

"The people in the relationship or the marriage are very career-oriented people," Richards continued. "You get into the business and you sacrifice so much to get to WWE, get on TV, do all that stuff, and then you see the person you love still there, and you're gone. That comment about what she said that her husband has a job and she's no longer there, that was just kinda weird. That put me off a little bit. I'd be happy anybody in my family was still getting a paycheck." [1:03:27 – 1:03:59]

The 37-year-old's final televised WWE match ended in defeat against Bianca Belair on the March 6, 2023, episode of RAW.

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Please credit The Stevie Richards Show and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.